Travellers told not to donate blood

Australia has stepped up its watch on severe acute respiratory syndrome by ordering that people who have recently visited affected areas defer donating blood for two weeks.

The Commonwealth's chief medical officer, Professor Richard Smallwood, said the step was being taken to ensure travellers were not incubating the deadly pneumonia strain.

He said although there was no evidence SARS could be transmitted through blood, it was normal for the Australian Red Cross Blood Service to defer potential donors if they had symptoms such as a fever or cough.

"Australia's blood regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, has advised that, as an added precaution, anyone who has travelled to [SARS-affected areas] should not give blood for 14 days after they return to Australia to ensure that they are not incubating SARS," he said.

He said the added precaution affected anyone who had travelled to China, Hong Kong, Singapore, northern Vietnam or Toronto.

The medical virologist at Westmead Hospital, Dr Dominic Dwyer, said the possibility remained that the virus could be present in blood in its acute stage.

A spokeswoman for the Commonwealth Health Department said there was a small chance some blood could have been donated by travellers who had returned from affected areas before the restriction was announced.

The Opposition yesterday condemned the Prime Minister, John Howard, for suggesting that the outbreak could be a boon for domestic tourism, as Australians opted to take their holidays locally rather than risk travelling overseas.

Mr Howard conceded international tourists would not travel while the epidemic continued. At the same time, he told 2GB, some parts of the local tourism industry were "doing better than ever".

The Opposition Leader, Simon Crean, said the comments were distasteful. "For the Prime Minister to try to claim a tragedy like SARS has a silver lining for Australia is grossly insensitive and a potential PR disaster for the region," he said. Any boost SARS provided locally would not compensate for the lost tourism dollars from crucial Asian markets.

The global death toll from SARS has now risen to 132, with a further five deaths in Hong Kong.

Sixteen more people have been assessed at Australian airports, including three at Sydney Airport, bringing to 107 the number of people assessed and cleared since new quarantine clearance measures were introduced.

Seven people are under investigation but only two, a nine-year-old boy in NSW, and a West Australian woman, 57, are in hospital.

Scientists at Canada's Michael Smith Genome Centre say they have cracked the virus's genetic code, which could eventually lead to a vaccine being developed.